discover camping

As you know we are social campers, not back country hard core campers. We love to gather with friends and family at a lake and hope for sun. This usually involves several women blowing up individual flotation bed and paddling several feet into the lake. I realize this sound terribly laborious and you must marvel at all the obstacles we have endured.

How can so many women chat while continuing to floating away from each other?

How can your drinks still be full by the time you reach your destination?

Doesn’t the lake keep pushing us back to shore, resulting in constant paddling.

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We camped at Lightning Lake Campground a couple years back on our anniversary but just realized I did not do a complete review. Lightning Lake Campground is one of 5 campgrounds located within E.C. Manning Park and it is by far the most popular making it difficult to get into. We also stayed at Coldspring Campground the same trip and you can find it’s review here.

I have to thank my sister for getting the site. For 3 days she went into work early so that she could be logged onto Discover Camping in order to hit the booking button as soon as the reservation system opened. It was a difficult task but on day 3 she had success and was able to secure a site for 6 nights. Due to the popularity of this park you can only book 7 nights at a time but really it is still near impossible to get a reservation.

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We are 2 weeks into one of the worst forest fire seasons in British Columbia’s history and there is little relief in sight. Currently there are 162 fires burning and a total of 131000 hectors of forest scorched. With little rain in the forecast it is hard to know when things will improve.

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Let the count down begin! In less than 24 hours campers across BC will plant themselves in front of computers, anxiously ready to hit ENTER, and crossing their fingers hoping to reserve a campsite at one of BC’s coveted Provincial Campgrounds.

You can only book 3 months in advance so reservations for dates of June 15th and prior are only accepted. In June, if you are able to camp during the weekdays, you should be okay getting a reservation but weekends will book up within minutes. As the calendar moves into July and August any date is near impossible to secure. We have been able to get into most of the popular Provincial Parks at some point over the last 20 years but each year it gets harder and harder.

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Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park is located about 1/2 an hour south of Kamloops and a bit over a 1/2 hr north of Merrit, just off Highway 5. The elevation, of almost 1,300 meters, can be both an attraction and deterrent when considering this park. Residents of Kamloops and Merrit flock here is the summer to get away from their often extreme desert-like temperature. You will find Lac Le Juen is on average about 10 degrees cooler than either of those cities. This park also has a nice beach and swimming lake although it can be very cold early in the season. The area is popular for fishing and there are also a couple of other good fishing lakes nearby. It is surprising that you are only 1/2 hour away from the city but once in the park you feel like you truly are getting away. Continue reading →